WASHINGTON, December 22, SPA -- President George W. Bush's special envoy for Sudan, Andrew Natsios, resigned and was replaced by a former U.S. diplomat to the United Nations. Also Friday, the State Department's top diplomat forrefugee crises announced her imminent departure. EllenSauerbrey, the Assistant Secretary of State for Population,Refugees and Migration, who has been criticized for thehandling of Iraqi refugee admissions, said she would beleaving the post soon. By law, Sauerbrey, a former Republican politician whomBush named as a «recess appointment,» bypassing a toughfight for Senate confirmation, cannot stay in the positionafter Congress returns in mid-January from its holidaybreak unless she is re-nominated and confirmed. «It has been a great privilege,» she said in a farewelle-mail obtained by The Associated Press. Natsios, who plans to return to academia, will be replacedby Richard «Rich» Williamson, an attorney, formerambassador and senior Republican party official, who isclose to Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, thestatement said.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/511416